- Joined
- Feb 19, 2014
I'm surprised to have been a silent member for so long only to have this as my first post. I competed in athletics from childhood through university so doping in sport is a topic I take very seriously, having seen it in action, and I wanted to voice my opinion on the subject.
Before I go further, I need to say something; when I read posts where Russians are referred to in extremes such as "scary" it makes me sad. I recall how ALL Canadians have to put up with Ben Johnson remarks decades later when athletes from all over the world have since done similar, or much worse, than Johnson did in his day. I realize the current controversy concerns Russia but Russian athletes, and Russians in general, don't deserve to be labelled a nation of outrageous cheaters in comparison to everyone else. If the latest WADA investigation holds truth - and I expect it does - then Russia is simply the country that got caught this time. While there are differing degrees of corruption, don't be naive enough to assume they're alone in widespread or even state-sponsored doping.
Many athletes, and those in the know concerning performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), often casually refer to doping controls as an IQ test. Only the dumb and lazy get caught. It's actually a bit more complicated than that; an effective doping program requires funding and professional overseers - doctors, trainers, etc - to slip by unnoticed at elite levels. Also remember that testing can only catch what is known to be in use and has been studied to discover screening methods for. Doping developments are always at least two steps ahead of testing capabilities, hence why so many cases come to light only years later, if ever. When testing facilities are compromised, be that by intimidation, payoff or questionable integrity, and when friends/family hide evidence by lies or deliberate omission, then it gets even harder to know who is using what and why.
Elite, well-funded athletes have 'programs' which encompass different PED schedules timed to competition and peak performance at key events. Freelancers, those who try to run such a program without close supervision, and athletes representing small or poorly funded federations are usually the ones getting caught and they often find themselves used as examples of anti-doping effectiveness when the stars at the top of the chain are the bigger offenders, sometimes (though rarely nowadays) without total knowledge of the pharmaceutical power behind them or clear understanding of potential consequences.
It starts young, younger than most people want to believe. Promising junior, or even younger, athletes are often encouraged by people in authority positions to begin doping in order to reach their potential - the "You have to, because everyone else will" talk.
When big names - individuals, organizations or even countries - get caught it's usually one of two scenarios; a former insider scapegoated or shortchanged along the way talks or success leads to arrogance spawning incredulity. Going for increasingly ridiculous records, openly flaunting inexplicable success, lax secrecy and forgetting the rules have to at least appear to apply to everyone is how investigations like the one currently happening start.
PED use is everywhere. There are no 100% clean sports so long as money and prestige are part of the reward. Individuals are motivated to dope for fame and fortune, out of competitive drive to win at all costs or simply because they don't believe it to be wrong.* Teams do it for money and rankings. Nations do it for patriotic propaganda. Sports are big business, including at the semi-pro and Olympic levels, and there's a LOT of money to be made in performance enhancement.
Every sport has different physical attributes that correlate with success. Is there doping in skating? Almost certainly. Endurance, suppressed/delayed physical maturation, strength, explosive power for jumps and throws, recovery aids and over-training injury prevention...there are all kinds of directions researchers can explore. How far developments have progressed is something most can only guess at and those who know the answer are unlikely to willingly share their knowledge.
* And they aren't alone. The percentage of spectators who willingly accept PED use in exchange for bigger, stronger and faster results, who see doping as just one more training method, is increasing. Society is starting to take an "everyone is doing it, so why fight scientific progress" attitude.
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Sorry for the lengthy ramble. It's just that, as I began with, I care about this topic. I want clean and fair sport - and, unlike many, I advocate for no exceptions, strict enforcement of the anti-doping rules (sorry, Caro) - but personal experience has shown me that we may be past the point where such can ever be restored. That hasn't changed my love of competition, and I still enjoy watching records fall and new milestones achieved, but I know why some of it is happening and have to accept that.
I'll go back to quietly lurking now. Carry on conversing, folks.
Before I go further, I need to say something; when I read posts where Russians are referred to in extremes such as "scary" it makes me sad. I recall how ALL Canadians have to put up with Ben Johnson remarks decades later when athletes from all over the world have since done similar, or much worse, than Johnson did in his day. I realize the current controversy concerns Russia but Russian athletes, and Russians in general, don't deserve to be labelled a nation of outrageous cheaters in comparison to everyone else. If the latest WADA investigation holds truth - and I expect it does - then Russia is simply the country that got caught this time. While there are differing degrees of corruption, don't be naive enough to assume they're alone in widespread or even state-sponsored doping.
Many athletes, and those in the know concerning performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), often casually refer to doping controls as an IQ test. Only the dumb and lazy get caught. It's actually a bit more complicated than that; an effective doping program requires funding and professional overseers - doctors, trainers, etc - to slip by unnoticed at elite levels. Also remember that testing can only catch what is known to be in use and has been studied to discover screening methods for. Doping developments are always at least two steps ahead of testing capabilities, hence why so many cases come to light only years later, if ever. When testing facilities are compromised, be that by intimidation, payoff or questionable integrity, and when friends/family hide evidence by lies or deliberate omission, then it gets even harder to know who is using what and why.
Elite, well-funded athletes have 'programs' which encompass different PED schedules timed to competition and peak performance at key events. Freelancers, those who try to run such a program without close supervision, and athletes representing small or poorly funded federations are usually the ones getting caught and they often find themselves used as examples of anti-doping effectiveness when the stars at the top of the chain are the bigger offenders, sometimes (though rarely nowadays) without total knowledge of the pharmaceutical power behind them or clear understanding of potential consequences.
It starts young, younger than most people want to believe. Promising junior, or even younger, athletes are often encouraged by people in authority positions to begin doping in order to reach their potential - the "You have to, because everyone else will" talk.
When big names - individuals, organizations or even countries - get caught it's usually one of two scenarios; a former insider scapegoated or shortchanged along the way talks or success leads to arrogance spawning incredulity. Going for increasingly ridiculous records, openly flaunting inexplicable success, lax secrecy and forgetting the rules have to at least appear to apply to everyone is how investigations like the one currently happening start.
PED use is everywhere. There are no 100% clean sports so long as money and prestige are part of the reward. Individuals are motivated to dope for fame and fortune, out of competitive drive to win at all costs or simply because they don't believe it to be wrong.* Teams do it for money and rankings. Nations do it for patriotic propaganda. Sports are big business, including at the semi-pro and Olympic levels, and there's a LOT of money to be made in performance enhancement.
Every sport has different physical attributes that correlate with success. Is there doping in skating? Almost certainly. Endurance, suppressed/delayed physical maturation, strength, explosive power for jumps and throws, recovery aids and over-training injury prevention...there are all kinds of directions researchers can explore. How far developments have progressed is something most can only guess at and those who know the answer are unlikely to willingly share their knowledge.
* And they aren't alone. The percentage of spectators who willingly accept PED use in exchange for bigger, stronger and faster results, who see doping as just one more training method, is increasing. Society is starting to take an "everyone is doing it, so why fight scientific progress" attitude.
----------
Sorry for the lengthy ramble. It's just that, as I began with, I care about this topic. I want clean and fair sport - and, unlike many, I advocate for no exceptions, strict enforcement of the anti-doping rules (sorry, Caro) - but personal experience has shown me that we may be past the point where such can ever be restored. That hasn't changed my love of competition, and I still enjoy watching records fall and new milestones achieved, but I know why some of it is happening and have to accept that.
I'll go back to quietly lurking now. Carry on conversing, folks.
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